Until a few years ago, punk rock was the only music you'd find in blink-182 singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge's CD player.

But a chance meeting with The Clash's Joe Strummer in Australia opened DeLonge's eyes, and ears, to a far broader range of music. Strummer, a 1970s and early '80s punk legend, surprised DeLonge by saying that, in retrospect, the Talking Heads were pretty cool.
The exchange led DeLonge to become more open toward bands from different genres. He soon respected acts like Oasis and Beck. And nowadays, DeLonge listens to drum and bass, hip-hop and new wave music.
Along with singer-bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker, DeLonge allowed this more mature outlook on music to drive blink-182's untitled sixth studio album, which came out Nov. 18 on Geffen.
The band, which will play June 5 at the Meadows Music Centre in Hartford, has truly turned in arguably its best album to date. Its latest single, "Down," has an atmospheric drum beat and dynamic guitar parts over an electronic groove.--photo1L--
"There was a vision I had in my head about sitting in a car with a girl when it was raining on the windshield," DeLonge said in a May 12 interview from Raleigh, N.C. "And you're trying to relay to this girl that you really like her and she's not quite getting it. You want to lean over and grab her and kiss her and eat her all up! The music, I think, is really cool. It's almost a dance song at times."
The No. 2 hit "Feeling This" portrays two different views of love, one aggressive and sexual and the other poetic and romantic. The song fuses '70s classic rock with punk rock guitars and a hip-hop bridge.
Meanwhile, the album's first No. 1 hit, "I Miss You," might well be the band's best track ever. It's inspired by the song "Lovecats" by The Cure, whose frontman, Robert Smith is among the album's guests.
"It kept growing and growing and then it kind of came into this jazzy, acoustic, new wave song," DeLonge said. "Mark and I went and wrote lyrics in two different rooms in the house and came up with the words.
"It's rad," he added. "I'm glad you like it. I really like it too. It's totally different from something that we usually do, but I think it's totally appropriate for where our band is going."
Born Dec. 13, 1975, DeLonge grew up in Poway, Calif., near San Diego. Father Thomas worked for an oil company, while mother Connie was a corporate secretary. The family also included Tom's older brother, Shon, and younger sister, Kari.
Tom DeLonge was into skateboarding and liked punk rock acts The Descendents, Bad Religion, Screeching Weasel, Fugazi, NOFX, the Queers and Lagwagon. He also liked comedians Mitch Hedberg and Chevy Chase and the films "Caddyshack," "Vacation" and "The Big Lebowski."
He began playing guitar while in seventh grade and was about 17 when he formed blink-182 with Hoppus and original drummer Scott "Mad Dog" Raynor. The band recorded an EP called "Fly Swatter," which was limited to a mere 20 copies on cassette in 1993.
"It's the worst music you've ever heard and the worst lyrics," DeLonge said. "It's bad."
With a budget of $1,000, the band recorded and pressed up 200 cassettes for its full-length debut, 1994's "Buddha." This earned the guys a record deal with Grilled Cheese/Cargo, which released 1995's "Cheshire Cat" LP; that album sold more than 300,000 copies, landing the band a deal with MCA.
Even as an indy band, blink-182 had played on the Warped Tour with Pennywise and NOFX and gained an audience from concerts and appearances in skating, surfing and snowboarding videos. Their major label debut, 1997's platinum "Dude Ranch," included the No. 11 hit "Dammit (Growing Up)."
By the time the band released 1999's "Enema of the State" LP, Barker had replaced Raynor.
"That's when our lives changed," DeLonge said. "That's when people knew us. Wherever we'd go, we sold a lot of records and we were on TV stations across the globe."
The five-times platinum CD featured the No. 1 hit "All the Small Things," with a video that made fun of boy bands and featured Hoppus "spinning around in his underpants."
"I like saying the word 'underpants,' not 'underwear,'" DeLonge said. "'Underpants' always makes me laugh."
Meanwhile, the video for the No. 2 hit "What's My Age Again?" followed the guys' escapades as they ran naked around Los Angeles for a day.
"Everyone, to this day, still thinks we're the naked band," DeLonge said. "But we only really did it for a very short time in our career."
This type of humor worked its way into the band's next studio album, 2001's "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket," which featured the No. 2 hit "The Rock Show." By this time, the band's catalog included such songs as "Voyeur," "Dumpweed," "Dysentery Gary" and "Does My Breath Smell?" And they named their company Poo Poo Butt Inc.
"We did it because it was the most immature, dumbest thing ever," DeLonge said. "We thought it would be funny to have our accountants, managers and attorneys having to say that over the phone every day.
"We were always like, 'Let's have fun doing what we do and (hell with) everybody else. It doesn't matter what impressions we leave. It doesn't matter how many people get offended,'" DeLonge said. "We were trying to get each other laughing and, at the same time, we were trying to have the best songs we can."
For their new album, however, blink-182 avoided funny song titles - a sign of their maturity and growth. All three band members became fathers not too long ago. DeLonge married wife Jen in May 2001 and the couple's daughter, Ava Elizabeth, was born in July 2002.
In concert, the band is focused more on playing good music than on joking around. But they're not entirely serious.
"What I'm finding is, as this tour progresses, Mark and I are getting more relaxed and we're saying more and more stupid (stuff)," DeLonge said. "It's really loud and in-your-face and really cool with electronic, sophisticated sound that we've introduced to our show. And it's quite humorous too. We joke around and have a lot of fun. It's got all the qualities of a summertime smash."

The show is at 7:30 p.m. The venue is at 61 Savitt Way. Tickets are $31. Call (800) 477-6849.